The present disclosure relates to harvesting articulated (jointed) combines and more particularly to improved an improved feeder assembly having lateral tilt and carried by the forward tractor or crop processing power unit (hereinafter, “PPU”).
As the typical commercial combine harvester gets ever larger, it is asked to lift wider and wider headers on its front via the feeder house. The increased weight of the headers with increased size can challenge the header lift, lateral tilt, and fore/aft mechanisms, as well as the feeder house structure in general. Aggravating these structures and applied force situations is the lift geometry of the hydraulic lift cylinders that typically are configured such that when pushing the feeder house upward they actually will apply a larger proportion of their force in a horizontal direction (horizontal force vector) versus the vertical component of the force (vertical force vector) that is causing vertical movement or lift of the feeder house.
With respect to the side-to-side tilting mechanisms common to the industry and with reference to the feeder house lift condition explained above, while the weight of the header is applied to the top outside portions of the feeder house front structure, the weight is typically carried by either the top middle, or bottom middle of the structural rectangle where it is “pinned” to provide the pivot for the tilting of the load carrying front face adaptor of the feeder front face. As the feeder house gets wider, this requires significant structural strength to provide a beam (top or bottom) that supports the heavy header in the middle, and then severely weakens the beam by cutting a hole in it to allow the pin hinge. Of course, the heavier the prospective load, the larger the hinge pin must be, and so the beam gets deeper and deeper for structural strength in an area where that depth is a deterrent to good overall design practice.
Accordingly, this disclosure proposes to solve the problem of unfortunate cylinder force vectors by applying the lift forces of the cylinders to the top-front area of the feeder instead of to the bottom front structures. Also, by anchoring the cylinders significantly forward (versus typical designs) of the front axle location, the net effect is to have lift cylinders that are significantly more vertical in their applied force to the feeder house structure. This also is a good configuration given that the heavy weight of the header is supported at the top of the front of the feeder in the “cradle” that engages the top beam of the header. Such cylinder lift configuration also could have use for swathers, forage harvesters, and other crop cutting assemblies carried on the front of a tractor. Concurrently, the disclosed feeder assembly will support the header and allow side-to-side oscillation (lateral tilt) by means of allowing a curved top surface on the front of the feeder to be saddled by a curved dome that sets down atop and around the curved top of the feeder front; thus, describing an arc of curvature as the dome is pushed to one side or another.